What is next for Yemen after Saleh's killing?

Even by Yemen's standards, the days leading up to the death of Ali Abdullah Saleh were turbulent and confusing. On Saturday, the removed Yemeni president turned on the Houthi rebels he had been backing for the past several years.

Saleh called for dialogue with Saudi Arabia - once his patron, more recently his enemy. On Monday, Saleh's former rebel allies reportedly ambushed and killed him, while other sources told Al Jazeera that Saleh may have been executed in his residence.

It is the latest development in a civil war that has pitted Yemen's internationally recognised government, led by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, against Houthi rebels and Saleh's forces. Saleh's death only adds to the volatility surrounding a war that appears to have no end in sight - and a humanitarian crisis often described as the world's worst.

So, will Saleh's death bring the conflict into a new, and even more violent, phase?